"Jesus: God Saves!" The Name of Jesus January 1, 2005

“Jesus: God Saves!” Luke 2:15-21
The Name of Jesus January 1, 2006


I wonder if this new year will end up with a name? For example, many journalists called 1964, “The Year of the Beatles.” Many historians declare 1968 to be “The Worst Year in American History.” Sometimes, entire decades acquire a name. The 1920s are called, “The Roaring 20s.” The 1980s are called, “The Me Decade.”

Sometimes, a name expresses a hope, given in advance. At the turn of the 20th century, many American protestants envisioned it as “the Christian Century.” (Perhaps you’ve heard of the magazine that still bears that name.) “The Christian Century” was to be a decade of great advancement in mission around the world. The hope was that this would be the century when all the world would become Christian!

Naming is important, to express our hopes. Have you ever named a house? There’s a house I’ve bicycled past many times, in James City County, that’s called, “Shady Rest.” That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? I wonder if its owners have found that to be true?!

How about the naming of children? One of my all-time favorite stories is told by a man I know named George Ruth. When we lived in Wilmington, Delaware, George lived around the corner. George always wore a New York Yankees baseball cap. One day I said, “You must really like the Yankees.” He said, “No, I’m not really a fan of baseball”; and then he told me this story. George was born to Polish parents, in what was then the Polish neighborhood of Wilmington, surrounding St. Hedwig Church. The Polish Catholic custom was for the father of a baby to take the newborn to the priest at the church, to be baptized. The mother was not involved in this. Beforehand, George’s father and mother had a discussion about what this baby should be named, and they decided on a name – which was not George. The father set off with his bundle of joy. He stopped by to see if his brother wanted to go with him to the priest for the baptism. And on the way, the baby’s father and uncle began talking baseball and, with the last name of “Ruth,” …

To make a long story short, when the priest asked, “By what name is this baby to be called?” the father told the priest (have you guessed it?), “George Herman.” That is the name the priest used, in the baptism. (Remember when people used to call a person’s first name his “Christian name?” That dates back to the time when the name was officially bestowed, by the priest, during the baptism.) Anyway, you can envision the scene, can’t you, that occurred when the father took the baby back to his wife and told her that their bundle of joy was now named “George Herman Ruth”; that he had been named after Babe Ruth! But, according to the intense piety of that Polish Catholic mother, if the priest had baptized little George with that name, then that had to be his name.

Most times, parents give more care than that to the naming of their children! Often they use family names. For example, Pattyand I named our daughter “Emily Jean.” Both of her grandmothers are named “Jean.” Our son is named “Nathan Andrew,” after you-know-who. I am named after my father. I’m a “junior.” My brother, John, is named after our father’s father.

Many of you have observed that same ritual of continuing family names through the generations. It carries an importance! A family name gives a baby a wider identity. It provides a context for who this new person is. If the name chosen belongs to a family member who is admired, then the hope is that this new human being will grow up to be like the person she’s named for. By its association with a particular person, with particular admirable qualities, the name means something!

In the liturgical calendar, January 1 is celebrated as The Name of Jesus. We read from the gospel of Luke, "After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb." What context is given to this name, by the gospel writer reminding us of the angel Gabriel’s visit with Mary, to tell her that she will bear this child! A name given by an angel! That’s a name that identifies this baby as important to the grand scheme of God’s salvation for the entire world!

This is also attested, of course, in surrounding Scripture. We read this morning that, according to St. Paul, Jesus was born "when the fullness of time had come."[1] Last Sunday, in the gospel of John, we read this about Jesus, the Word become flesh: "From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace."[2]

"After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb." Jesus. It’s a name that comes from the Greek form of the late-Hebrew name of “Joshua.” So, the name of Jesus means, “Yahweh, help!”; or, “God saves.”

And so, the Scripture read at the two Sunday services since Christmas Eve is giving us more layers to what child this is. When the fullness of time had come, Jesus was born, to embody and to enact God’s salvation in our human flesh. Through Jesus, God brings this salvation to us. In Jesus, God saves us from our sins!

Jesus: “God saves.”

Here is a sentence that we will pray during the Eucharistic Prayer, in a few minutes:

“We give you thanks for your Son,
at the heart of human life,
near to those who suffer,
beside the sinner,
among the poor,
with us now.”[3]

In the Holy Communion meal, salvation comes to us, through the physical presence of the risen Jesus. In the bread and the wine, we receive God’s future, of the kingdom of salvation fulfilled! As we leave the Holy Communion meal and scatter back out into the world as the risen body of Christ, through our actions of ministry we enact God’s future, when kingdom will be fully realized.

“We give you thanks for your Son,
at the heart of human life,
near to those who suffer,
beside the sinner,
among the poor,
with us now.”

The reign of God will be characterized by authentic, gentle, relational wholeness. Jesus embodied that salvation by serving the poor, those on the margins, those in need. We enact that salvation, ourselves, when we do the same. Jesus: “God saves.”

In Jesus, God is with us now, saving you and me from our sin and from our brokenness. That is what sin is: brokenness. And we suffer from that brokenness, that sinfulness, all the time!

Our love affair with God breaks down, many times each day, and our need is to return to the baptismal font each time we worship, to ask for forgiveness, for restored salvation. Jesus: “God saves.”

Our relationships with each other, with those we love, are broken by anger, and by self-centeredness and forgetfulness of the other. That happens all the time! But because of God’s grace upon grace in and through Jesus, we are enabled to return to each other and also to receive each other, in restored love. Salvation includes healing us where we are broken. It is God who restores. It is God who repairs. Jesus: “God saves.” God brings us into the kingdom.

What great hope there is, in the name of Jesus! We see the presence of that kingdom that Jesus embodies, whenever there is authentic, gentle, relational wholeness. And we bring that kingdom right now, to others, as we act as Jesus did: with mercy and forgiveness, out of grace and salvation, and our hope for wholeness.

In the name of Jesus, giver of all grace.[4]

Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] Galatians 4:4
[2] John 1:16
[3] A text from “Renewing Worship” materials, to be included in the forthcoming Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
[4] John Milton (1608-1674)